List of Mortal Stunts
List of Mortal Stunts Alertness ' '''Corner of My Eye: '''When successfully rolling Alertness passively to pick up on details, gain an additional 2 shifts. This reflects the ability to pick up on more pieces of information, but it does not improve the ''depth ''of that information (which would take things into the realm of Investigation). '''On My Toes: '''Gain +2 to Alertness when using it to determine initiative. '''Paranoid? Probably.: '''Gain +2 to Alertness when rolling against surprise. 'Athletics ' '''Acrobat: '''Gain +1 on Athletics when using it to survive a fall. Also, gain +1 to attempts to dodge ranged attacks (throwing and guns), so long as you describe it colorfully. '''Fleet of Foot: '''When sprinting, gain a +2 to Athletics. '''Human Spider: '''Difficult surfaces aren’t much trouble to scale; reduce all climbing difficulties by up to 2. '''Mighty Leap: '''Any borders that your character chooses to clear by jumping are reduced by up to 2. '''Too Fast to Hit: '''When making a full defense, take no penalty for moving one zone and gain an additional +1 to the roll (for a total of +3) when making such a move. 'Burglary ' '''The Big Picture: '''When casing a target with Burglary , you gain the ability to define an additional aspect about the target (such as Broken Window Latch) when you succeed on the roll, for a total of two aspects. '''Cat-Burglar: '''You’re a thief with catlike tread; you may use Burglary instead of Stealth for Hiding or Skulking. '''Hairpin Maestro: '''Poor tools are no trouble when picking locks. Any increase to difficulty due to poor tools (such as having only a hairpin and a business card) is reduced by up to two. '''Safecracker: '''Any lockpicking effort takes place two steps faster than usual on the time table. 'Contacts ' '''Ear to the Ground: '''You have your fingers on the pulse of things, with plenty of friends who can give you a heads up. The difficulty of any Getting the Tip-Off roll is reduced by two. '''I Know Just the Guy: '''When you’re looking to gather some information from your network of contacts, you have unerring instincts for finding the right person, fast. When using the Gathering Information trapping, your efforts are at a +1 and are 1 time increment faster. '''Rumormonger: '''You know exactly how to get the word out, gaining a +2 on your efforts to spread rumors. ' ' 'Conviction ' '''Blessed Words: '''The strength of your faith alone allows you to give others pause. You may use your Conviction skill to perform a block in physical conflict, potentially preventing someone from making a conflict action against you. '''Person of Conviction: '''Your social presence is tightly rooted in your identity as a person of deep faith. You may use Conviction instead of Presence to determine your social stress capacity. '''Resilient Self-Image: '''Your sense of self is strong, enabling you to endure more psychological punishment than most. You may take two additional mild mental consequences. '''Tower of Faith: '''Strongly held beliefs enable you to protect your mind from the aggression of others. Provided you get a chance to pray or otherwise call upon your faith, gain Armor:1 against any social or mental stress in a scene. 'Craftsmanship ' '''Car Mechanic: '''You know the ins and outs of cars like nobody’s business. Gain a +2 on Craftsmanship whenever dealing with a car or truck and a +1 on other personal vehicles (boats, motorcycles, small aircraft). '''Demolitions Training: '''You are trained in the effective use of explosives (this is a new skill trapping; most people can’t handle explosives without training). You may use your Craftsmanship skill to place and set explosives appropriately. This allows you to do attacks and maneuvers against structures, and your skill roll also sets the difficulty for any characters attempting to avoid damage from an explosive that you’ve placed. Note that to hide an explosive you will still need to use the Deceit skill. '''Junkyard Artiste: '''You create art by working with your hands and a workman’s tools—works of sculpture, perhaps, or other kinds of modern, “industrial” art. You may use Craftsmanship instead of Performance to create these works of art. '''Jury-Rigger: '''You have a talent for improvising with available materials. When jury-rigging, your repairs last two scenes longer than usual. '''Monkey with a Wrench: '''Sure, building and fixing is nice, but taking things apart is more satisfying. When using Craftsmanship to take something apart, gain a +1 on the effort and get it disassembled one time increment faster. 'Deceit ' '''Document Forging: '''You are trained in the forging of official documents (such as ID, birth records, and the like) or letters. You can roll Deceit to create these documents, but using them or planting them where they will be of use (like in a library or government office) might require the use of other skills, such as Burglary or Stealth. Anyone exposed to these documents gets an Alertness or Scholarship roll to spot the deception; the difficulty is equal to your roll to make the document. Likewise, your roll is also the difficulty for any Investigation rolls to suss out your forgery. '''Honest Lies: '''Whenever incorporating a real, valuable piece of the truth (however marginally valuable it may be) into a lie, you gain a +2 on your efforts to pass off the untrue parts. '''Make-Up Artist: '''Given enough time, you can create very convincing disguises, ones that will hold up to deeper inspection (although not to careful scrutiny and magic). Any attempt using Investigation or Alertness to see through your disguise is at an additional +2 difficulty. '''Pick-Pocket: '''Whether it’s a simple bump-and grab or something more complicated, you’re adept at getting people to pay attention to other things while you or an accomplice liberates their pockets of their contents. You may use the Deceit skill to perform pick-pocketing with no increases in difficulty. This includes the filching of small items from a desk or someplace similar. Targets of this action usually oppose with Alertness. '''Stage Magician: '''You may attempt complicated stage magic tricks without penalty and gain a +1 on any attempts with Deceit to create quick distractions. This gives a +1 bonus to the Pick- Pocket stunt, if you also have that. '''Takes One to Know One: '''You may use Deceit instead of Empathy to catch someone in a lie. 'Discipline ' '''Calm Blue Ocean: '''You are skilled at keeping your emotions in check. Gain +2 to Discipline when rolling to keep emotions under control. '''Supreme Concentration: '''Your Discipline is considered to be Fantastic whenever Discipline would restrict, complement, or otherwise modify another skill. This has no effect on your actual Discipline rating when the skill itself is being rolled. '''Unshakeable: '''When defending against social or mental attacks with Discipline, any of ''your ''aspects (such as consequences or other temporary or permanent aspects) that get tagged provide only a +1. If the attacker chooses to tag for a reroll, you may “lock down” one of his dice, leaving him only the other three to re-roll. 'Driving ' '''Been There: '''Your Driving is never treated as Mediocre for purposes of navigation, even if a place is unfamiliar; use it at the full value instead. '''Like the Back of My Hand: '''Your knack for shortcuts gives you a +2 to Driving when using it for street knowledge and shortest-path navigation. '''Pilot: '''Your focus is on aircraft, not cars. Gain +1 to your Driving when piloting an aircraft; choose a specific kind that you’re best with (helicopters, jet airliners, personal aircraft) for an additional +1 when steering that type. '''Shake the Tail: '''When you are the one being followed in a car-chase, you have a real talent for sudden turns and daring maneuvers to shake off your pursuers. Gain a +2 to Driving in such a case. 'Empathy ' '''Counselor: '''You have some formal education in professional counseling or psychotherapy. Your skill can be used to justify another character’s recovery from moderate or severe social or mental consequences, provided you have the time and opportunity to provide them with the full extent of your services as a counselor. '''Read the Surface: '''You can get a sense of someone quickly when trying to “read” them. Your first attempt to read someone takes less than a minute of interaction, instead of the usual ten. Any subsequent efforts with the same person do not enjoy this benefit. '''The Social Graces: '''Keen awareness of the ebb and flow of social situations makes you the master of your circumstances. When determining initiative in a social conflict, gain +2 to Empathy. '''Won’t Get Fooled Again: '''It only takes once for someone to lie to you before you start to wise up to it. Once you’ve discovered a particular person’s lie for what it is, you gain a +2 on any future Empathy rolls when dealing with that liar. (This requires a small amount of book-keeping, but the benefits are worth it!) 'Endurance ' '''No Pain, No Gain: '''You can take a bunch of punishment before it starts to add up. You may take two additional mild physical consequences. '''Tireless: '''Your Endurance is considered Fantastic whenever Endurance might restrict, complement, or otherwise modify another skill. This has no effect when Endurance is rolled directly, however. '''Tough Stuff: '''The stuff of blunt trauma—fists, sticks, and stones—pose little trouble for you. Against such things, you have a natural Armor:1 (which stacks with other forms of protection). This does not apply to things like blades, bullets, and burns, but it makes you a beast in a burly brawl. 'Fists ' '''Footwork: '''You’re fast on your feet and have been in enough fistfights to know how to make yourself a hard target. You may use Fists to dodge attacks instead of Athletics, in all the circumstances where Athletics might apply. '''Killer Blow: '''Add 3 to the damage of a Fists attack on a successful hit, once per scene, ''for a fate point. This stacks with any other damage increasing stunts for Fists. '''Martial Artist: '''As a result of advanced training, you are able to recognize many styles of martial arts, using Fists as a knowledge and perception skill focused on unarmed fighting. This enables you to make assessments and declarations related to fighting styles and fighting culture using your Fists skill. This stunt may be used as a prerequisite for other Fists stunts. '''Armed Arts: ''Requires Martial Artist''. You are practiced with a small number of weapons as part of your martial arts training. Pick two weapons which logically fit in with your training (nightstick and knife with cop training, for example). You may use the Fists skill instead of Weapons when wielding these implements. Lethal Weapon: ''Requires Martial Artist. Your hands are lethal weapons. When using Fists to strike an unarmored opponent, you are considered to have Weapon:2. '''Redirected Force: 'Requires Martial Artist. ''You’re an expert at turning close-combat attacks (swung fists, thrust knives) against themselves. On a successful defense roll using Fists against such an attack, you may sacrifice your next action (giving this an effective limit of one per exchange) to treat the defense as a successful maneuver on your part (requiring no additional rolling), placing a maneuver aspect like Thrown to the Ground or Taken Off Balance on your attacker. '''Step Into the Blow: '''When you use Fists to defend against a close-quarters attack and ''fail ''that defense, you may sacrifice your next action to counterattack immediately (with Fists) at +1. 'Guns ' '''Fast Reload: '''Provided that you have a supply of ammunition, reloads are rarely an issue. You take no penalty when reloading as a supplemental action; if you’re in a race to see who reloads first, or anything else having to do with your speed or ability to reload, gain a +1 on the roll. '''Gun Nut: '''Guns. Man, you know everything about them. You’ve seen them all, even the ones that nobody knows about. When rolling Guns as a knowledge skill, gain +2 on the roll. '''Hand-Eye Coordination: '''Shooting and throwing aren’t all that different, once you get familiar with ‘em. You may use the Guns skill instead of Weapons to throw manual projectiles (rocks, grenades, boomerangs). '''Pin Them Down: '''When Aiming, the aspect you place on the target ''cannot be removed ''so long as they do not move out of the zone, and any attempts to leave the zone face an increased border of 1 as long as you continue to make Guns attacks against that target. '''Target-Rich Environment: '''Gain a +1 to attacks with Guns whenever personally outnumbered in a firefight. '''Way of the Bow: '''To heck with guns; you’re more of a bow and arrow type. You may use Guns instead of Craftsmanship to build and repair such items, and your skill with them gives you an extra +1 damage on a successful hit. 'Intimidation ' '''Infuriate: '''Scaring people isn’t your forte; seriously ''pissing them off, ''on the other hand, is right up your alley. Gain +2 to any roll when deliberately trying to get someone angry with you (a social or mental attack or a maneuver with such a goal). Any consequences (such as grudges) or temporary aspects that result must name ''you ''as the source and target of the anger. '''Interrogator: '''You use Intimidation to scare a “perp” or at least provoke strong reactions out of him. Those reactions should tell you something, even if you don’t get a confession out of your target. Once per scene, whenever you make a successful Intimidation attack while questioning someone, you can set aside the stress you’d inflict and instead treat the attack as a successful Empathy attempt to “read” that person. '''Rule with Fear: '''Taking this stunt establishes that your reputation is based on how scared people are of you, far more than anything else. Use Intimidation instead of Presence whenever rolling to represent your reputation. '''Subtle Menace: '''You don’t need the upper hand or to be in a position of power in order to be scary to someone. When the context of power is absent, or your victim is actually in a superior position, your victim does not get any advantage bonus. '''You Don’t Want Any of This: '''People stay out of your way—they know better. When performing a Brush-Off, gain a +2 on your roll. 'Investigation ' '''Listening: '''You can tune out your other senses and simply focus on your hearing, making you able to pick up faint sounds with astonishing clarity. Gain a +4 on your Investigation roll when Listening; however, your Alertness drops to Terrible while doing so, due to the exclusion of your other senses. If a conflict begins while you are Listening, it will take a full exchange for your Alertness to return to normal once you stop. '''Pin the Tail: '''You’re a tough person to shake once you get on someone’s trail. Gain +2 to your Investigation rolls when trying to keep track of a target during Surveillance. When Shadowing someone using Stealth, you may use Investigation to complement your Stealth skill. '''Quick Eye: '''When examining a location for clues, your eye is quick to pick out the visual details. Your first Investigation roll to determine deeper details about a scene is two time increments faster than usual. '''Scene of the Crime: '''You have a practiced eye when combing over a crime scene. In such a circumstance, you gain +1 to your Investigation roll and arrive at your findings one step faster than usual on the time table. 'Lore ' '''Occultist (Specify): '''You’re an expert on a particular sub-section of arcane lore. This must be limited, but it can still cover a fair number of things, such as “Vampires” or “Demons.” Gain a +1 to Lore when researching things covered by such a topic. You must also define a deeper specialty within that category, such as “Red Court Vampires” or “Hunter-Killer Demons,” to gain an additional +1 (for a total of +2) whenever the research focuses on that narrower area. This stunt may be taken multiple times, as long as a different sub-section is defined. Multiple areas of expertise may overlap, however, and in such a case, the bonuses of multiple relevant stunts ''may ''stack. '''Finely Tuned Third Eye: '''Your “sixth sense” that can perceive the presence of a supernatural “ick” factor is unusually sensitive for a pure mortal. Gain +2 to your Lore whenever using it as an Alertness substitute to pick up on the presence of the supernatural. 'Might ' '''Bend and Break: '''When successfully breaking an object using your Might, increase the effect (stress, usually) by two steps. '''Mighty Thews: '''When determining approximate lifting capacity, consider your Might to be 2 steps higher than its actual rating. '''Wrestler: '''Hand-to-hand combat maneuvers to switch from Fists to Might are made at +2. 'Performance ' '''Art Historian: '''You not only create art, you’ve studied it deeply. Gain a +1 whenever using Performance as a knowledge or perception skill to research or study a work of art. Gain an additional +1 in a specific, broad area of art (e.g., music, painting, sculpture), and another +1 in a yet narrower area (e.g., pop music, Renaissance paintings, the Dada movement) for a total +3 whenever dealing with your area of greatest expertise. '''Impersonator: '''Given a few hours to study someone’s behavior and modes of speech, you may imitate their mannerisms and voice, using Performance instead of Deceit to convince someone you ''are ''that person. Without strongly controlling the circumstances (e.g., impersonating someone over the phone), such impersonations won’t last very long. If combined with the Makeup Artist stunt and plenty of preparation, you may use either Performance or Deceit to pull off a full impersonation, using the better skill for all relevant rolls and getting a +1 against Investigation rolls trying to penetrate the disguise. '''Poet: '''You have an affinity for beauty in written and spoken language. Your Performance is at +2 when composing something with words and is considered to be two higher when used to modify a social skill. '''Pointed Performance: '''When performing for an audience, normally you can only create aspects on the scene that are broad, focused on general moods (Creepy as Hell, Let’s Party!, Uninhibited). With this stunt, you may make performances that target something more specific, perhaps directing that mood at a particular person or group. For instance, a satirist with this stunt could attempt to use his performance either to elicit a response from one person in the audience (The Jig Is Up) or to cause the audience to direct their mood toward that person (Check Out the Emperor’s New Clothes). 'Presence ' '''Leadership: '''When you talk, people listen. When using Presence to command a group, gain +1 on the effort. Further, your efforts to coordinate a group are efficient, moving one time increment faster than normal. '''Personal Magnetism: '''You have a calm confidence that others find appealing. When rolling Presence to establish a “passive” reaction to you, make the roll at +2. '''Teflon Persona: '''It’s difficult to make you look bad in social conflicts. Provided that the people present are aware of who you are, you gain Armor:1 against any social attacks. '''The Weight of Reputation: '''Your reputation is such that it puts you in an easy position of power. People in power are good at scaring folks who aren’t. You may use your Presence instead of Intimidation to scare someone, provided the target knows of you and your “rep.” 'Rapport ' '''Best Foot Forward: '''People just like you, especially when you’re deliberately trying to make a good first impression. You gain a +1 on your roll to make a good first impression, and failing that roll cannot give you a negative temporary aspect or make the situation worse. '''Let Me Tell You a Story…: '''You have the gift of gab, able to draw the attention of others with colorful words and stories. This tends to leave your audience distracted. You may use Rapport instead of Deceit in order to mount a distraction, so long as you are able to talk to your targets. '''Sex Appeal: '''Folks attracted to people of your gender cannot help but notice you. You’ve got “it.” Receive a +2 to the roll on any seduction attempts you make with Rapport, provided that the target is someone who could be receptive to your advances. 'Resources ' '''Filthy Lucre: '''If it involves using money and other gifts in illegal or corrupt ways—bribery, mainly—you have a talent for making it work. Your dirty money travels farther, made frictionless by the greasy stain of it all. Gain a +2 to Resources whenever using it for illicit purposes. '''Lush Lifestyle: '''Your wealth is well-established and robust, making you the man or woman who has everything. Normally, someone may be assumed to have an item that costs two steps less than his Resources without having to seek it out and buy it, assuming that it makes sense for him to have attained it previously. In your case, it’s any item equal to or less than your Resources. '''High Quality Workspace: '''Instead of Resources–2, your “automatic” personal workspace is of a quality equal to your Resources. Alternately, it’s still Resources–2, but it’s able to fulfill two workspace functions (such as Academic as well as Arcane Research). This stunt may be taken multiple times to broaden the number of workspace functions available to you, but it may never be used to improve the quality above the level of your Resources skill. '''Windfall: '''You’re occasionally able to tap into more Resources than usual, such as cashing out stocks or receiving a periodic disbursement from a trust fund. Once per adventure, you may spend a fate point to make a single Resources roll at +4. 'Scholarship ' '''Capable Researcher: '''Some say you were born in a library. Any scholarly research you do is completed two time increments faster than usual—due in large part to the fact that you’ve probably read something about it before. (This ability does not extend to Lore research, which somehow never seems to go any faster no matter how good you are at the mundane stuff.) '''Doctor (Specify): '''You have a medical degree or the equivalent of such an education. You may use your Scholarship skill to declare appropriate justification for the recovery of moderate physical consequences when outside a medical facility, and for the recovery of severe physical consequences within a medical facility. For research purposes, gain +1 on Scholarship for any medical research and an additional +1 in a specific area of medicine. This stunt may be taken twice, with the bonuses on research stacking to indicate particularly deep or excellent medical knowledge (such as with a heart surgeon, etc.). '''Forgery Expert: '''You are trained to distinguish forged documents from real ones. You gain a +2 on any roll to spot forgeries or falsified documentation. '''Linguist: '''You may speak (and read) additional languages as if your Scholarship score was 4 higher than it is. You may take this stunt multiple times, adding four more each time. Up to half of the languages you speak may be obscure, rare, or dead, provided you can establish an opportunity to study them. '''Scientist (Specify): '''When using Scholarship to do scientific research, gain +1 in a particular area of focus (e.g., Biology, Chemistry, Physics). Gain an additional +1 in an even more specific area of specialization (e.g., Marine Biology, Organic Chemistry, Quantum Physics). '''Scholar (Specify): '''When using Scholarship to do scholarly research, gain +1 in a particular area of focus (e.g., Literature or History). Gain an additional +1 in an even more specific area of specialization (e.g., /19th Century Literature or Chinese History). 'Stealth ' '''Blend In: '''You blend into a crowd easily. If there’s a crowd to hide in, you gain +2 to your Stealth rolls. This is particularly useful when Shadowing someone on foot. '''Stay Close and Keep Quiet!: '''When sneaking around with a group, you are able to use your Stealth skill to complement everyone else’s Stealth skill as they roll to stay hidden and quiet, provided they stay nearby and follow your instructions. Failure on either of these points means they lose the benefits. If you have any aspects specific to your ability to sneak around, your companions may invoke those aspects for their benefit as well. '''Swift and Silent: '''When Skulking, any difficulty increases due to fast movement are reduced by up to two. 'Survival ' '''Animal Handler (Specify): '''Roll Survival at +1 when using it for Animal Handling or, where relevant, Riding. Gain an additional +1 when dealing with a particular broad type of animal (birds, dogs, cats, horses) specified at the time you take this stunt. '''Go Native: '''You’re able to survive nearly indefinitely outdoors, living off the land. Scavenging rolls are made at +1, and the time between multiple rolls for a prolonged stay is increased by one increment. '''Hunter: '''As an experienced hunter, you know how to track game in the outdoors. Gain +2 on any efforts to use Survival to track something in the wilderness or other outdoor area. 'Weapons ''' '''Good Arm: '''Thrown weapons normally have a range of only one zone. With this stunt that range extends to two zones. '''Juggler: '''Throwing deadly items around is just par for the course for you. Catching them is, too. Even bare-handed, you may use your Weapons skill to defend against a thrown attack, allowing you to catch the item if you succeed on the defense. In addition, you may use your Weapons skill instead of Performance in order to entertain an audience with your juggling. '''Off-Hand Weapon Training: '''You know how to fight more effectively with two weapons in hand. Normally, you may only take the damage bonus from one weapon on a successful hit; with this stunt, you may add half of the second weapon’s bonus as well (round up). '''Riposte: '''On a successful defense with Weapons, you may sacrifice your next action to turn that defense into an immediate and ''automatically successful ''attack. '''Wall of Death: '''Your skill with your weapon issuch that you can attack several opponents at once, creating a veritable “wall of death” around you. This allows you to use the Weapons skill to make spray attacks with your melee weapon of choice against opponents that are in your zone.